Clouds
by simmysim
Summary: Set between S2 and S3 - The group has set up camp in an abandoned country house and Daryl is on watch, waiting for walkers and the sky.


**A/N: Hey gang! This is just a little drabble I wrote based off the word prompt "clouds"... And I think it's pretty self-explanatory. Happy reading!**

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Carol made her way up towards the old house. She liked country driveways. They were roads unto themselves. She liked this one, in particular. It'd been one of Glenn's finds, and he was proud.

She felt the mid-afternoon heat on her back, dulled by the grey overcast that'd taken over the entire sky and trapped in most of the heat. In the distance, on watch at the front of the house, a lone figure sat, meditative and still.

The porch stretched across the façade of the house, its railings left as splintery remnants, littering the ground below. Little evidence of a staircase, now torn away, remained.

Daryl sat at the edge, swinging his legs back and forth, and watched the clouds.

When Carol reached the edge of the porch she brought her hands to her hips, the man in front of her still blind to her presence.

"Hey."

Daryl jumped at her voice, tried to play off the smile on his lips as some kind of vague annoyance.

"Help a lady up?"

She reached a hand up towards Daryl, who hesitated, looking out the corner of his eye to the stepladder angled up against the far end of the porch.

Bending forwards, he reached out his arms to her, one hand closed over hers, the other wrapped around her arm, just above the elbow.

She pressed her lips together, altogether pleased with herself, and angled one boot into a hollowed out knot in the wood. Then she placed her free hand firmly on the ledge of the porch and pushed off the ground, gracefully landing beside Daryl in one smooth motion.

Satisfied, she allowed him to let go of her arm gently, bringing his hands to rest under his thighs. She smiled to herself and glanced quickly at Daryl, who'd turned his face back to the sky.

Climbing onto the porch was easy for somebody of average height; the stepladder was only there for Lori and her growing belly.

"You seein' all those clouds up there?"

He grunted a wordless affirmation.

"I'm thankful. We could use a break from this heat."

He nodded in agreement. He could tell by the way they were shifting that there'd be a break soon. And he'd see that clean blue again.

"Think we'll get some thunderstorms rolling through?"

She leaned back, onto her elbows, and stretched her neck out to look skywards.

Daryl shook his head. "Nope, not those ones."

He glanced over at her to see she'd closed her eyes, basking in the diffuse light.

"Why not?"

He drew in a deep breath and turned to tell her, only to discover her eyes were still closed; closed to him and to the sky.

With an incredulous shake of the head, he brought his thumb to his mouth, looked her quickly up and down.

She may as well have been at the beach.

Another moment and still, she didn't move. He kicked his foot gently at Carol's, who jumped at the unexpected touch.

"You're not even lookin'."

She opened her eyes and pursed her lips sourly at him. Lifted herself up from her elbows and stretched her arms above her head, letting them fall limply into her lap.

"I was before."

Daryl snorted. Looked to the sky again. No point arguing.

"You can still see the sunlight through those, right? 'Cause they ain't thick enough. Gotta have air movin' up and down."

She nodded in agreement, but found herself looking at the man beside her, rather than the space above her.

"Not enough energy in those ones to do any damage."

He froze when he felt her eyes on him, the slow realization that she'd never been watching the sky at all. Feeling a heat creep up his neck, he shook his head and looked away.

"Quite the scientist, you are," she nudged her own shoulder into his.

"Stuff like that's good to know when you're huntin'…" he trailed off, shifted his hands underneath him.

Cleared his throat and looked to his feet.

"Don't want to get caught out in the rain."

"No, it's good," she said softly, leaning in towards him, her warm breath soft on his neck.

He could feel his palms sweating onto the wood, his throat dry and heart pounding against his ribcage.

She brought her arm across her front and placed it on his bare shoulder, swinging herself to face him.

"I'm impressed," she whispered, hand slipping off his shoulder as she pushed herself up off the porch and made her way inside.

Daryl took a minute for himself, there, on the porch. Let out a long, slow, breath, reminding himself that he was on watch, just him and the sky. Alone again.

He didn't notice until later, how bright it had become. He squinted and blinked quickly, sunlight slowly seeping through a growing gap overhead. He brought a hand to his forehead and looked up to see it - that perfect blue.

His favourite blue.


End file.
